It's everywhere I go
by Flying on the Wind
Summary: Two-shot: Love comes in many guises. - The child that falls asleep against her father's chest is love. The friend who has your back in the hardest of times is love. The look in your partners eyes that needs no words to be understood, that's love. And one can ever have enough of it. Part 2 now up featuring Kurt, the girls and the fear of loss. (Happy ending) (Sorry for mislabeling)
1. Chapter 1

_Blaine_

"9-1-1, what's your emergency?" the voice was practiced and clipped. It did little to reassure Blaine.

"Yes, hello, I think you need to send the police, I think someone might be about to be beaten up," Blaine etched towards an alley that even in the bright autumn day in bustling New York managed to look suspect. Or maybe that was just because Blaine had just witnessed a well-dressed young man be followed into that alley by two larger males with unfortunate mixtures of scowls and smirks on their round faces.

"Can you state your location for me, sir," the controlled, not unkind voice sounded from the phone. Blaine rattled of the address quietly, straining his ears for any sound coming from the alley. He was stood practically at the entrance to it, back against the wall. "An officer has been dispatched, sir." The voice interrupted Blaine's frantically beating heart. "I must caution you to stay away, sir. The police will be there momentarily to deal with the situation."

"Hey, pretty boy." A gruff voice drifted along the bare brick walls and rounded the corner to where Blaine was standing. Oh goodness, it was about to go down, wasn't it. How long would it be before the police would be here? How bad could it get before they did arrive?

"Please hurry," Blaine whispered into the phone. How could everyone else around be so indifferent? Blaine felt as if his heart was about to explode in his chest. Other sounds were emanating from the alley. They were muffled and indistinguishable, drowning in the sounds of the relatively busy street. All Blaine had wanted was to get a cup of coffee at that special place as a treat to celebrate the arrival of the autumn break. How did he end up nearly having a heart attack while he tried to hear if someone was in serious trouble?

Was that a punch being thrown? He did not want to just stand here, hiding like a coward, if someone was being beaten to death. But he couldn't go in there either, and risk his own well-being. There were people who depended on him too much to risk it. And the person from the emergency-place had explicitly said not to interfere. Where was the police? Blaine looked frantically from side to side, wondering why people were just hurrying past, not paying attention to the horror that was surely unfolding right next to them.

"Get your hands off of me, you scum!" a higher voice shouted from further down the alley.

"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do about it, fairy boy?" a deeper, gruffer voice chimed in, and that was definitely not a good sound, the one that followed. The pained whimper was what made Blaine snap.

"I've called the police!" he called, loudly, swinging around to stand at the mouth of the alley. "They're on their way."

About halfway down the victim was standing next to an overflowing container. He was immaculately dressed in a tightfitting white pea coat over even tighter fitting grey jeans tucked into heavy black boots. His chestnut hair was swept back over his forehead, as he stood tall and firm opposite his attackers. Who had frozen in place at the sound of Blaine's voice. In that moment, a loud crash sounded from the alley, and Blaine just caught sight of the glass bottles exploding over the hard ground. The box they had been kept in must have toppled of the fire escape running up one side of the alley walls.

The two thugs, showered by glass fragments, swore, turned on their heels and took off at a run. Regal Victim did a sort of shoulder wriggle, stiff nod combo that somehow indicated both his satisfaction and his annoyance with the situation. Then he looked up and straight at Blaine. For a second he did an incredibly accurate deer caught in headlights imitation. Then he strode determinately towards where Blaine was still standing, cup of expensive coffee still clutched in his hands.

As he came closer it became evident that Mr. Regal victim wasn't as put together anymore as Blaine had first thought. His clothes was ruffled. Red dust on his right arm bore witness to its meeting with the brick wall, and a red mark under his left eye was slowly taking shape. His lip was slightly swollen, too, and a small trail of blood was running from where it had split.

"I've called the police, they're on their way," Blaine restated to Regal Victim when he came closer. He sort of flailed his hand towards RV, wanting to show support without knowing how to.

"Right," Regal Victim said. His voice was clipped and annoyed.

"Do you have any idea how that happened?" Blaine nodded towards where the cardboard box was slumped on one side.

"I think I saw a cat up there." Mr. Regal victim said slowly. "Right, well, I'll be off then." Mr. Regal victim stepped around a gawking Blaine and out of the alley.

"Hey, wait up," Blaine shook himself out of the shocked starring at empty space the sudden departure had left him in. "We have to wait for the police." He hurried after Mr. Regal Victim who was walking with long, determined steps towards the nearest subway station.

"Listen," Regal Victim suddenly twirled around to face Blaine dead on, "Thank you for your good Samaritan act. You can go back to your sad, ordinary life now. No harm done, see," he waved towards himself. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to go home and pretend this never happened." He raised his eyebrow at Blaine and it was clear that he did not care what Blaine thought on the matter. In a flurry of white coat he turned on his heels and marched off.

(*)

Blaine was still reeling when he made it back to his flat. The entire event kept playing itself over and over in his mind, as he tried to somehow, magically, make sense of it all. – From the emergency-call to the mysterious falling box to the flippant reaction of Mr. Regal victim.

"Daddy," an exited squeal pulled him back to the real world as the door clicked closed behind him. A smile automatically slid onto his face as a little figure came hurdling through the door leading away from the hallway, and bowled straight into his legs, hugging them fiercely.

"Hey sweetheart," he breathed, stroking the soft dark hair of his eldest daughter, "How've you been?" she looked up at him with round glistening eyes.

"We made cookies Daddy!" she announced with a broad grin. A green streak of icing was smeared on her round cheek. Blaine reached down to wipe it off.

"Is that so?" he asked, sucking the sugar of his thump. "Well, I can't wait to taste. – After dinner!" her face fell, but only for a second. Then it lit up into a brilliant smile.

"Can we eat now Daddy?" she asked in her most innocent voice. Blaine couldn't help but laugh at that, as he grabbed the little hand clamped around his knee.

"I'll have to cook first, darling," he said as the two of them made their way into the living room/kitchen area. Another squeal interrupted whatever she was about to say to that. His youngest was sitting on her play blanket, an array of toys spread around her. She was holding up a colourful ball for him to inspect as she bounced in her seat and babbled at him.

Blaine was quick to make his way over, pick the baby up and toss her into the air for all of half a second before he caught her and cuddled her close. She squealed and buried her face in his shoulder. Blaine breathed deeply, inhaling her baby sent.

"Come on, Daddy, we gotta make dinner. It's Friday. We get to eat cookies and stay up super late!" the demand was accompanied with a little, impatient tuck on the coat he was still wearing.

"Already on it, Ree Ree," Blaine twirled around to find Tina standing by the kitchen island dividing up the otherwise open floorplan.

"Hey, Tina," Blaine made his way over to his friend, "Thanks for taking them today," he popped a piece of tomato into his own mouth before passing one to the baby on his hip.

"No problem," Tina said, sending him a teasing glare in return for the tomato theft. He shrugged as he slid his baby into her high chair.

"You staying for dinner?" he asked, unbuttoning his coat.

"Sure, why not," Tina shrugged, dropping the tomatoes into the already warm pan on the stove next to her. "I'm already cooking it, aren't I?"

(*)

"Open your mouth wide, sweetheart," Maria reluctantly did as he asked, letting Blaine brush her little pearly white teeth. "Good job, honey. Now crawl into bed."

"But it's not super late, yet," she protested around a yawn.

"Yes it is sweetheart, it's super-duper late, and time for bed. And you know what?" she shook her head as he helped her under her covers and tucked her in, "It's vacation time. That means you and Daddy and Emily are going to be staying home for the entire week and play and go to the park and have lots of fun!" she blinked tiredly at him, and cuddled the plush tiger he handed her. "Now would you like me to read you one story before you go to sleep?" he asked, pulling a book from the little stand next to her little bed. She was asleep before he finished the third page.

Blaine smiled to himself, leaning over to press a kiss against her forehead. On the way to the living room he poked his head into his own room where Emily was spread out in the baby bed, chest raising and falling steadily.

"And the monsters are asleep," Blaine announced as he dropped onto the couch next to Tina. She laughed and high-fived him. "Something strange happened on the way home today," he remembered as he straightened up and poured himself a glass of wine Tina had located while he got his kids to sleep.

"Oh?" she raised her eyebrow and got settled more comfortably on the couch, "Do tell."

"Right so, I was stopping by Simone's for a treat, you know, for surviving the first quarter. And these thugs follow someone into this alley, and you just know they have something horrible in mind. I mean he was pretty much screaming gay and wealthy, so, obviously I call 9-1-1 and get them to send help."

"Oh, my God, that's awful. You didn't do anything stupid, did you?" Tina asked, leaning closer as if inspecting him for damages.

"No. No, but I was like having an aneurism or something from worry. And I may have told the idiots that I had called the police. But then this really weird thing happened. There was this box of empty bottles standing on a fire escape, and suddenly it just falls, showering the scumbags in glass shards." Tina raised an eyebrow at him, shaking her head. The two of them had been friends since they met at college. Tina's open nature and slightly wonky personality matched well with Blaine's lust for adventure and happy-go-lucky nature.

"The guy said he thought he saw a cat. And then he was just really rude and abrasive, just taking off without waiting for the police or anything." Blaine frowned, remembering the look on Regal Victim's face as he stalked of.

"Well, if someone just tried to beat him up, can you really blame him for wanting to get out of the way?" Tina send him one of her small 'you know I'm right' smiles. Blaine mock scowled at her, and she tried to scowl right back, though she had one of those faces that were just too open and kind to really pull it off. – It was one of the things that made her such a great teacher. That and the fact that she was amazing with kids.

"Just put on a movie, Captain Always knows best," Blaine smirked, taking a drink of his wine. "And don't blame me if I fall asleep in the middle of it. My work-kids were little nightmares today."

* * *

"Daddy look!" Maria pulled on Blaine's hand, hard, dragging him away from the window with the nice coat far out of Blaine's price range.

"What is it sweetheart?" he asked even as they came to a halt outside the store next to the clean fashion boutique with the expensive coat.

"Look Daddy, a treasure shop!" Maria pointed through the window set in the green wooden door. Behind it could be seen a cluttered interior. "Can we go in, please, Daddy?" Maria send him a pleading look, one eye squinted shut and her nose scrunched up.

"Sure, baby-girl," Blaine smiled. He had taken his girls out for a shopping trip, after all. Emily gurgled happily at the warm air that greeted them as they entered the shop. Her little fist closed tightly in his hair, and Blaine could feel her twisting around in the forest green Baby Wrap he had tied around his midsection. Carefully, he parked Emily's pushchair just inside the entrance where it would be the least in the way, and followed Maria's insistent tuck on his coat into the cave they had entered. The shop was narrow and long, the walls lined with tall shelving units filled with pottery, baskets and books. Between the entrance to the shop and the counter at the other end of the shop a small labyrinth of display tables and display stands were set up. Maria, who had developed a fondness for treasures to rival that of Ariel's had found herself a heaven.

"Look, Daddy, neck'ces!" she exclaimed, standing on tip-toes to peer through the glass surface of a table. Rather than answering, since he knew an answer wasn't expected, Blaine ruffled Maria's hair, and looked up to scan the shop. Two people were at the counter at the other end. One, a black lady dressed in the colours of a rainbow, was smiling widely, wriggling her fingers, Blaine assumed, at Emily. The other, a tall lean man, was shaking his head at his companion, eyes wide. Blaine recognised him instantly. It had been a week since the weird incident, and the autumn break had been filled to the brim with entertaining his girls. The memory of that particular event was, however, still vividly clear in Blaine's mind, and so was the image of Mr. Regal Victim. – Who was, incidentally, the same man now turning towards a magazine with an air of indifference hanging about him. Rattled, Blaine returned his attention to Maria, who had made her way further into the maze of the shop. She was now admiring a pair of high heels displayed on a gathering of boxes on the floor, gently shaping her hands around their form and cooing over them.

"Mind the till, will you?" a voice sounded, and Blaine looked up to see the woman move from behind the counter. He smiled politely at her as she made her way passed him. A little chime of a bell signaled her departure. Which meant that Blaine and his children were left alone in the shop with the strange.

"Aw, beads!" Maria exclaimed as if she had discovered the Holy Grail hidden among the other goblets on the shelves. "Daddy please can I have some for my treasure chest, please?" she turned to him with her eyes as wide as they would go. Shaking his head, Blaine smiled indulgently at her.

"Why not, baby-girl, pick out five, okay?" her face lit up in excitement only to morph into concentration as she turned to the task of picking out the very best five of the colourful glass beads gathered in three little basket on a low shelf. Once again Blaine found himself shaking his head. Looking up, he found the stranger's eyes resting on him. The wide eyes told him that he, too, had been recognised.

"I'll be just over here, okay, sweetheart?" he ruffled Maria's hair to get her attention long enough to know that she had heard, and then made his way towards the counter. "Fancy seeing you here," he said in lieu of a proper greeting.

"Fancy that," the stranger replied. Neither man quite managed to look directly at the other.

"So," Blaine started, reaching over his shoulder to pull a curl from Emily's mouth. Then he trailed of. "You're doing okay then?" he ended up blurting out. The stranger raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at him.

"Yeah, I am." He said.

"And this is where you work? It's very, um, well, it's not exactly…" Blaine gestured to the shop behind him rather than finish the sentence. The stranger still looked entirely unimpressed in his perfectly fitted outfit with his hair swept back just so.

"Not exactly..?" he prompted.

"It's just not exactly what I would have imagined, but I guess it does sort of fit the whole mystic stranger thing?"

"This isn't my place." The stranger reached out to straighten a stack of brochures on the counter. "I own the place next door." He inclined his head towards the sleek fashion shop Blaine had been admiring.

"Oh," Blaine fiddled with the fabric of the baby wrap criss-crossing his chest. "Well that fits. Too…" the stranger raised an eyebrow at Blaine's hand wave.

"Too? You really think I fit in here?" he asked.

"Well yeah, with the whole…"

"Mysticism?" the stranger's eyebrow raised another notch. Blaine, helplessly trapped, nodded.

"Yeah, you could almost fool people into thinking you were a Wizard or something," he tried to joke.

"Aw, you're a wizard?" Blaine could have face-planted onto the counter. Why did children always have impeccable timing? The stranger once again did his imitation of deer-in-headlight as he starred down at Maria, who, without a care in the world, placed her final selection of five beads on the counter.

"Ehm," the stranger stuttered at the same time as Blaine placed a hand on her head.

"Can you do magic?" she looked at the stranger with the widest, most exited eyes.

"Rie Rie, Daddy was joking, sweetheart." Blaine said as the stranger continued not reacting. Maria ignored him.

"Right," the stranger seemed to unfreeze, scanning the shop to make sure no-one was hiding behind the shelves. "Yeah, I can do magic do you want to see?" Maria nodded, beyond eager, even as her dad's hand rested firmly on her little head. "Okay, but you have to help me, okay? Magic only work if we sing a song together." The stranger was moving from behind the counter, one hand already wrapped into a fist and kneeling in front of an enraptured little girl. "Do you know Tangled?" Maria, obviously, nodded. "Okay, do you know the song with the lights? Can you help me sing that?" the stranger gently folded Maria's hand in to a fist, and then wrapped his own larger hand around it.

The two of them began to sing, and Blaine starred at them, not at all sure what to expect. They only sang the chorus, and as they finished, Maria gasped loudly, turning to look up at her dad. Slowly opening her fist a tiny little blue and green bead was revealed. The colours matched those of Maria's eyes perfectly.

"Look Daddy!" Maria looked up at Blaine with wonder all over her face.

"I saw, baby-girl. You did magic!" he looked towards the stranger who was still kneeling on the shop floor, biting his lip. "Now say thank you,"

"It was my pleasure," The stranger said, getting back to his feet, and looking sort of dazed. "Do you want a little bag for those? We have some with little fairies on them." The stranger spun around himself before locating the little paper bags under the counter. He carefully transferred the five beads on the counter to the bag, but the magic one stayed firmly clasped in Maria's little hand. The awkward and stifled air was not lost on Blaine, but he had a hard time finding a way around it with Maria still staring at the stranger as if he hung the moon next to him.

She was still talking about the amazing Mr. Wizard and his magic bead when they made it onto the subway, Emily asleep in her stroller. Blaine just smiled indulgently at her, loving the way she could still dream.

* * *

On most days Blaine loved his job. There was little in the world more rewarding, he thought, than teaching pre-schoolers. When he did dislike it, nine point nine times out of ten, it was because of the parents. – Like when they send their fever-sick little brats to school just because it was field-trip day and little Eric had been looking forward to it for weeks. Because that inconsideration for others would lead to situations like the one Blaine now found himself in.

Emily's fever warm head radiated heat all the way through Blaine's shirt, making him sweat more than he already was. His youngest whimpered in discomfort, her little head resting heavy against his collar bone. Blaine sniffed, trying to focus on both the can of soup in one hand and Tina's voice drifting from the phone held in the other. "Daddy, my head is hurty!" a thin little voice cut over whatever apology Tina was making at the moment. Maria twisted in the almost too small pushchair into which she had been stuffed along with an array of pillows and blankets to protect her against the autumn chill of the New York evening.

"I know baby," Blaine hissed, deciding that the soup was probably perfectly fine and dumping it into the net attached to the back of the push chair. "I'll get you some medicine as soon as we get back, okay. Tina, its fine, we'll manage. Talk to you later."

"I'm not comfy Daddy, I want to go home now!" his eldest wailed as loud as her hoarse voice would allow.

"Baby-girl," Blaine sighed, kneeling next to the pushchair "I know everything is really achy right now, okay? I promise, we are going to go home as fast as we can, but we have to get yours and Emily's meds first or I can't make it better for either of you okay?" Maria looked at him through hazy eyes, her bottom lip wobbling.

"I wanna go home Daddy!" she wailed, thick tears spilling out of her green eyes. Emily, on hearing her sister's voice, whimpered more insistently, soon switching over to heart wrenching baby sobs.

"Shh, babies," Blaine bit back tears of frustration and helplessness as he kissed first one then another too warm forehead. "Daddy's doing everything he can, okay?" with one hand he rubbed Emily's little back through his coat and baby wrap. With the other he brushed the thick curls out of Maria's face, then letting it rest against her little check.

Having one sick child sucked. Having two sick children was almost impossible. Having two sick children while you yourself was also sick, now that was just about more than Blaine was able to handle. Blinking tears from his eyes, Blaine started humming with his sore voice until both children finally started to calm down.

"Get your brats under control!" a harsh voice called from further down the aisle. Blaine didn't even find the energy to look up, getting to his feet awkwardly and pushing the pushchair towards the counter of the pharmacy.

"Why don't you just shut your big mouth, idiot," another voice said, and suddenly a foreign hand landed on Blaine's shoulder. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Mr. Wizard!" Maria exclaimed, the first smile of the day making its way onto her face. Somewhat zombie-like, Blaine turned his entire body towards the man suddenly standing next to him. Mr. Wizard also known as Regal Victim, was dressed just as impeccably as always in a light blue coat over a marine turtle neck and tight black jeans. His warm blue-green eyes were fixed on Maria, as he reached out to brush his fingers through her sweaty hair.

"Hey there, beautiful girl." He said in a voice that sounded like honey to Blaine's over-tired ears. "You're not feeling too great huh?" Maria shook her head. "By the looks of it, none of you are," Regal Victim turned his soothing gaze to Blaine, who once again felt tears spring to his eyes. "Let's get you guys your medicine and take it from there, okay?"

* * *

"Daddy, where is Mr. Wizard?" Maria asked the second they stepped into the shop. It had been a week since the embarrassing incident in the pharmacy, and they were all finally more or less symptom free. Maria had, however, insisted since the morning after that they had to give Mr. Wizard a Thank-you card, because you always had to give people who did something nice for you thank-you cards. Which was why they were here, in this more than sleek shop. The walls were as white as the glistening floor. Four white-lacquered, long tables were arranged in two rows running the length of the shop. Atop them accessories and stacks of jeans and t-shirts were arranged precisely as if done with the aid of a ruler. Cubicles in two layers lined the walls. Most of them were filled with racks of clothes, though some of the upper ones contained mannequins displaying the gorgeous designer clothes. Towards the other end of the shop a long sleek counter was manned by a young girl, who was sending Blaine a raised eyebrow. This place didn't exactly emanate child friendly. There was only one other person visible in the shop – a costumer browsing the racks to one side, though the curtains to the fitting rooms next to the counter were drawn.

"Let's see if we can find him, sweetheart," feeling self-conscious, Blaine parked his push chair to one side and passed the homemade card to a twitchy Maria. With Emily balanced on one hip, Blaine took Maria's little hand in his and walked down towards the counter.

The young woman standing behind it looked exactly the part with her manicured nails, high ponytail and tight fitted black dress. She did not look impressed with the little girl wandering down the shop with a large card covered in multi-coloured glitter held proudly and gingerly in front of her.

"Where's Mr. Wizard please?" Maria asked in her politest voice. The woman behind the counter just looked at her, one eyebrow raised and lips pursed.

"She's asking for Kurt," Blaine stepped in, and yeah, maybe he had had to surf the internet to find the actual name of Mr. Wizard, but that had to be better than either of the names Blaine had been using in his mind since meeting him.

"Oh," the woman said, turning her gaze to Blaine instead, "one moment." She looked for a second as if she wasn't sure she should leave them unattended before she turned at walked over to a door leading further into the building. "Mr. Hummel, you have a visitor," she said, and a moment later Kurt stepped into the shop.

"Oh, hello there," Kurt smiled on seeing them, moving around the counter to greet them. Suddenly shy, Maria moved to hide behind Blaine's leg. Undeterred, Kurt send her a finger-wave before shaking Blaine's free hand. "What can I do for you?" Seeing Kurt in this environment was a strange thing. It wasn't that he had changed, as such, it was more that out in the ordinary world he was extraordinary, something special and beautiful. In here he fit in with the sleek, clear, and orderly lines, sharp colours, and understated elegance.

"We're here to give you something, right Maria," Blaine prompted, looking down at the child who was busy peaking at Kurt from behind Blaine. "Do you want me to give it to Mr. Wizard honey?" Maria shook her head and catapulted the card towards Kurt.

"Wow, what's this. It looks very pretty and colourful," Kurt accepted the card, kneeling down to eyelevel with Maria. "'Thank you very much for caring for us Mr. Wizard.' Well you are all very welcome," Kurt send a smile up Blaine's way, closing the card again and admiring its avant-garde glittery front.

"Daddy thinks I used too much glitter," Maria confided, edging towards Kurt.

"Is that so?" Kurt send a teasing look up at Blaine, "Well I don't agree. I think it has just the right amount of glitter. It's a very beautiful card. Thank you." Maria beamed proudly.

"Daddy thinks we should do something nice for you," Maria had suddenly rediscovered her more chatty side, "Oh, you should come for dinner at my house! Daddy says the nicests thing you can do for someone is to give them food!" Dang, children were always such sponges. Blaine should just stop talking around her all together. Kurt looked up at Blaine, clearly startled by Maria's sincere question.

"Well, Sweetie, I would…" he said slowly, sending Blaine a look that clearly asked Blaine to send the correct answer through telepathy. Blaine could only smile and shrug, hoping that said 'your choice. We'd be happy to have you'. "… Love to come for dinner at your house," Kurt finished, hardly missing a beat.

"Yay," Maria cheered, turning to beam up at Blaine. "Mr. Wizard is coming for dinner tonight!"

(*)

"Someone's really fallen for you," Blaine commented from where he was stirring the Bolognaise. Ever since he had stepped over the threshold, Maria had been attached firmly to Kurt's hand, chatting away non-stop. The only reason Blaine had gotten a word in was because he had send Maria to wash her hands before dinner.

"Yeah," Kurt agreed, getting up from the floor and dusting of his pants. "I love what you have done with her room," He picked up the glass of wine Blaine had placed on the kitchen table for him. The Tangle-inspired room had been the first thing Kurt had been dragged off to see.

"Thanks," Blaine said as Maria announced her return.

"Will you sit next to me, Mr. Wizard?" she asked, her eyes wide and pleading.

"Sure," Kurt replied with a smile.

"Good, 'cause Emily is really messy, and I don't want to sit next to her,"

Dinner was a pleasantly joyful affair. Maria's chatty mood carried on through dinner as they talked about what they had done that day and played 20 questions to get to know each other better. Kurt didn't bat an eye when Blaine placed a lump of sauce covered pasta in front of Emily. He didn't comment when the toddler started sorting through her food with both hands, stuffing her mouth messily. He did laugh, though, when she clumsily picked up her doll-sized cup and drank three drops before intentionally dumping the remains over the rest of her food.

"I told you she was messy," Maria said in her old-woman voice, looking at her sister with distain and mistrust. Blaine found himself smiling somewhat proudly at both his girls feeling relaxed and at ease for the first time since the cold-epidemic had struck.

(*)

"Oh you really didn't have to do that," Blaine exclaimed, re-entering the living room after having tucked Maria in.

"Oh, it was no problem," Kurt turned from where he was putting away the last of the dishes after having cleaned them while Blaine did his bed-time routine with his girls.

"Well, thank you all the same," Blaine sent the neatly packed baskets next to the bookshelves an appreciative glance as he made his way to the kitchen. "So tell me, Mr. Wizard," he pulled a packet of biscuits from an overhead cupboard. "Do you happen to play Settlers?" he pointed the roll at Kurt as if it was a sword.

"Oh, I am the master of settlers," Kurt replied drying his hands in a hand towel with one eyebrow raised, "Get ready to get your backside handed to you."

* * *

"She's asleep," The pride in Kurt's voice was easy to detect as he stepped into the living room. Baine looked up from the drawings he was leafing through.

"Really?" he asked surprised. Only few could get Maria to sleep. "Well done. There's coffee in the pot." It had been four weeks since the first time Kurt had come to their flat, and since then he had had dinner with them at least once a week. In no time at all he had been inserted into Blaine and the girls' lived, and he seemed to just, well, fit. Maria was absolutely in love with him, pulling him into all sorts of games and telling him everything she had been up to since the last time she saw him. Emily, too, seemed to be quite charmed. When she saw him she would squeal in happiness and reach for him. As for Blaine, well, he seemed to have found himself a friend who just got him.

Kurt smiled and moved to pour himself a mug of black coffee. "Can I ask you something," he asked biting his lip as if he wasn't sure if he really should. "It's just that she said something and I didn't know how to respond." Frowning Blaine placed the drawings on the table in front of the couch.

"What did she say?" he asked. Kurt moved to sit gingerly on the couch as well.

"Well we were reading that book where the child and the bear play hide and seek and the mother says she will always find him no matter how hard he hides. And Maria said that her mother has gone away." Kurt was frowning down at his hands as he spoke, "And I wasn't sure if. Well, what to say to that."

"Right," Blaine said rubbing his forehead, "Well, she's right. About a year ago their mom decided she didn't want to be a mother after all, and now I have full custody." Kurt's eyes were round as they rested on Blaine's face. He looked horrified. "Maria doesn't really ask about her much anymore, so. What did you say, then?" Blaine turned to face Kurt fully.

"I told her that my mother went away as well, and that she has a father who loves her very much." Kurt said simply. There was a sad drag at the corner of his mouth, though.

"Your mother didn't leave of her own free will, did she?" Blaine guessed. Kurt just shook his head. "I'm sorry," Blaine reached over to place his hand gently on Kurt's knee. The look in Kurt's eyes changed and before Blaine really realised it, soft and warm lips were pressed against his own. Instinctively, Blaine kissed back, leaning into Kurt. Before the kiss could get any more heated, though, Blaine pulled back. Kurt followed him a part of the way, his eyes blinking open.

"Oh, Kurt, I'm flattered," Blaine sighed, readjusting himself to bring more space between them.

"But?" Kurt's back straightened and his eyes grew hard.

"But I'm not…"

"Not?" the rigidity in Kurt's body didn't suit him at all.

"Into guys," Blaine finished tamely. The absolutely broken look that slid onto Kurt's face for a millisecond made Blaine's heart clench.

"Right. Of course." He said, looking away from Blaine, "I actually have a lot of work to do, so. I'll just." He got up from the couch and smoothened out his shirt. Blaine watched, hollowheartedly, as he left the room, but he made no move to follow.

* * *

"Did I lead him on, Tay?" Blaine absentmindedly stabbed at the tomatoes in his salad.

"By the sounds of it, yeah, you kind of did Blaine," Tina said, leaning back in her seat. The two of them had found an empty classroom to commandeer during the too short lunch break.

It had only been a few days since the surprise kiss, but Blaine felt like he was about to explode from all the emotions he was feeling. It didn't help that Maria would ask to see Mr. Wizard every morning, and then repeat the request when he came to pick her up after classes. He groaned at Tina's answer, letting his fork drop into the plastic box that contained his healthy-option lunch.

"I did. I just. I assumed he knew that I didn't…"

"Swing that way?" Tina helpfully supplied when Blaine couldn't.

"Yeah," he sighed moodily, sinking back in his slightly too small kids chair, and drawing his shoulders up to his ears.

"Okay, Blainy-days, I'm going to ask you a question and you have to answer the first thing that comes into your head, okay?" Tina lent in over the table, resting her elbows on the shiny blue surface. He nodded sullenly. "When Kurt kissed you, what was the first thing you felt?" Blaine opened his mouth to answer, then let it snap shut when he realized what he had been about to say. Tina raised an eyebrow at him.

"It felt nice," Blaine shrugged. "Kissing normally does."

"Okay, and after he left, what did you feel?"

"Like crap. I mean, I hate hurting people and I really didn't notice I had been doing that to him." Blaine folded his arms over his chest.

"Okay, so here is what I just heard you say: 'I like him, but I'm scarred to admit it because I've never liked another man before and I don't think I'm supposed to just start now.'" Tina imitated in a mock deep voice. Blaine pouted and scowled at her. "Listen, I know how your friendship sometimes comes across as flirting, so it is possible that you never meant anything else. But you said it yourself. He fit into yours and the girls' lives. People don't tend to do that randomly, Blaine, they do it because we allow them to. So just do me a favour and think about this? Rationally and without regard to what society has to say about it." She stood up as the bell sounded throughout the school. "And then go make out with the bloke, he sounds like he could be worth it. – Heck I'll even take the girls for the night if they'll let me," she smirked, ruffling his hair as she passed him on the way out.

"They won't, and it won't be necessary," he called after her, turning in his seat to stick out his tongue at her back.

"See ya tonight, loverboy," she called without turning around, waving, instead, over her shoulder. He shook his head and started gathering his things together before heading for another activity hour with his work-kids. Thinking would have to wait.

* * *

"I have never ever felt so humiliated," Kurt dumbed his spoon into the tub of ice cream. He had just come back from his definitely not a date and his roommate had taken one look at him before taking out their emergency comfort food. "And he was so perfect, too," he let his head fall back against the headrest of their couch.

"Aw Kurt," Rachel reached over to rub his arm, "But maybe it's for the best, I mean, were you really ready to become substitute dad for those kids?" Kurt let his head roll over to send his roommate a look.

"Those Girls are amazing," he said. Truth was, Kurt had taken one look at Maria, and fallen a little bit in love. It was the eyes, he thought, so full of life and generosity. Or maybe it was the curls, or the smile. Then there was Emily with her gurgling giggle and her grabby hands. She just pulled you right in. That their dad was Kurt's perfect man completed the most perfect picture. Before that day in Mercedes's shop Kurt had never given much thought to fatherhood. – He didn't dislike kids, but he had never really known if they were for him. Then Blaine, Mr. Good Samaritan who actually bothered to try and help when someone were being bigots, had stepped in with one gorgeous kid by the hand and a second one strapped to his back like something out of a romanticist painting. The thing about Blaine was, he was the full packet with his black well-fitted pea coat and his matching oversized forest green scarf crisscrossing over his chest to secure the child to his back. - With his deep, sparkly eyes that squinted when he smiled. With his smooth voice and his squeaky laugh. Kurt had been sold so embarrassingly quickly, and of cause it was all for nothing. Because flirty hot-dad Blaine was not into guys.

Kurt groaned throwing his head back again to stare up at the ceiling. Why did he always end up doing this? Why could he never just fall for an available, sweet, and gay guy?

"But still, Kurt. They're kids. I mean they like you right now because you're new and shiny, but what would have happened in a few months or whatever, when all they are, are Daddy-hogging little monsters who scream and get sick all over the place?" Rachel helpfully broke through his thoughts.

"Then Blaine and I would have been in it together, and it wouldn't always be funny, but it would still have been perfect, because we would have each other." Kurt replied, tears creeping into his voice. He really had allowed himself to dream this up way too much.

"You're really beaten up over this, aren't you," Rachel leant her elbow on the headrest, turning sideways on the couch to look at him. He just nodded helplessly, because what else could he do. She was right.

"Aw, sweet pea." she reached over to brush the hair from his forehead. He pouted at her, nodding his head. "Okay, come here." She pulled and pushed at him to get him settled on his back with his head on her lap, and then started humming softly, combing her fingers through his hair. He sighed deeply, letting the calmness of her voice wash over him.

(*)

It had been a full week since the ill-advised kiss, and there had been absolute radio silence from Blaine. Kurt fund himself hovering somewhere between hoping that he just needed the time – seven days wasn't that long after all - before resuming their friendship, and resigning himself with the fact that he would never see Blaine or the girls again. So when his phone rang on a rainy, slow Thursday, and Blaine's name flashed across the screen, he really wasn't surprised by the mix of emotions that swept through him.

"Hello?" he answered, trying to keep his voice as devoid of emotions as possible until he knew where Blaine stood.

"Kurt, hey, you picked up, great, listen I have a huge favour to ask," okay, so ignoring the issue entirely. Kurt could live with that, "The babysitter cancelled on me last minute, and I really have to be at this teacher-parent thing tonight. And I know you probably have plans already, but I just wanted to check if there's any chance you can take them? I mean I know it's a lot to ask, I'm just running low on options and the girls already know you and feel safe with you, so."

"Yeah I can take them," Kurt found himself cutting over whatever else Blaine had to say.

"Yeah? Kurt you're a lifesaver!" if there had been any doubt, the relief in Blaine's voice washed it way.

"It's no problem. When do you need me?"

"I have to be out of here by five," Blaine already sounded distracted again, and Emily's chatter could be heard in the background.

"Okay, well, see you then," Kurt hung up, shook himself and wondered what he had just gotten himself into.

(*)

"Hey Kurt, come on in," Blaine pulled the door open, turned on the spot and disappeared back into his apartment. Kurt dutifully followed Blaine into the little home. From the first time he had come to dinner here, Kurt had admired this place for it simple functionality and homeliness. The kitchen in one end of a long room was separated from the living area by a counter with a couple of barstools and a highchair. At the other end, couches were framed by bookshelves and a couple of tall windows facing the city. Little baskets were placed by the shelves, containing Emily's toys and the lover shelves were re-arranged to fit Maria's books and some of her toys. "Dinner's on the stow, so you can just eat whenever. The kids'll probably be hungry soon, though. And then just let them play themselves tired. Maria, the babysitter's here," Blaine called in the middle of his list of instructions, and Kurt heard her door slam against the wall at the far end of the hallway leading away from the room they were in. "It's possible they don't want to sleep before I get back, so don't even sweat it,"

"Mr. Wizard!" Maria came at Kurt at a run, bowling into his legs. Emily had pulled herself up to stand by the living room table, and was babbling happily at Kurt sort of doing squats in her excitement over seeing him.

"Just try to keep them entertained. – A movie should do the trick, and feel free to bribe them with snacks at any time." Blaine continued, completely ignoring the chaos around him. He looked different with his hair gelled more firmly against his head and his clothes lacking that cheerful colour it usually had. "I should be back at around nine, but I'll have my phone on me in case it just all goes haywire." Kurt nodded at him as he bend down to hug Maria.

"Right. Anything else? If they want a bath give them one. Otherwise we'll just do it tomorrow. Important numbers on the fridge."

"I missed you Mr. Wizard. Why'd you stop visiting me?" Maria asked over her father's harried voice. Emily, detecting that something was going down, had dumbed to the floor and speed-crawled over to Blaine with a screech.

"I was just busy," Kurt replied looking up at Blaine who had pulled on a coat and swung a satchel over his shoulder. "But I've missed you, too,"

"Right, Maria, Daddy's going to go now, okay, so be nice to Mr. Wizard and do as he says, okay?" Maria nodded accepting her father's hug and the kiss he pressed into her hair.

"Oh, and this one will cry when I leave, it's just her programming, so don't panic, just try to distract her with some toys or worst case scenario one of those fruit bars in the snack cupboard." Blaine had picked up Emily and gotten to his feet. Kurt followed him as he started walking to the door.

"Thank you so much for doing this, Kurt! And call me if it gets too much, okay? I should be back at around nine." He handed over a squirming Emily. "Daddy's going to be back later okay, baby-girl 2," he said pressing a kiss against her little forehead as she started screeching. "Bye," with one last wave, the door closed behind him, and Emily, as promised, started wailing loudly straight into Kurt's ear as an eager Maria pulled on his hand to get him to come play with her. This was going to be one interesting evening.

(*)

How he survived the four hours that followed, Kurt had no idea, but as nine o'clock rolled around he found himself walking back and forth in front of the couch, singing softly into the ear of a very still, though wide awake Emily. Maria was half asleep on the couch, a DVD playing on the screen. The place was a mess. Toys were spread all over the room, and the remains of the dinner they had laughed their way through was still standing on the counter – and on the floor from where Emily had dropped it. The bathroom was flooded from trying to bath two eager children at the same time without either of them falling and cracking their heads open. Maria's room was in much the same state as the living room and even Blaine's room had not been missed since Emily had crawled in there only to return with one of those long scarves Blaine used to carry her in. – she had given it to Kurt proudly, and, unable to deny her, he now had her close against his chest with the scarf wrapped around the both of them several times.

So, yeah, he was not proud of the state of the apartment, but all three of them were alive and no-one were crying so he sort of considered the evening a success. The soft sound of the door drifted and shortly after Blaine stepped through the door, leaving the satchel against the wall. Emily whimpered as she saw him, but settled down as soon as she was in his arms.

"Hey," Blaine whispered softly, pressing a kiss against her head, "Were you cuddling with Mr. Wizard huh baby-girl 2. That looked nice," he looked about as tired as Kurt felt, though the smile he sent him was soft and warm. "Looks like you had fun," he said, rocking his child in his arms.

"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that," Kurt started apologising, but Blaine waved him of, making his way over to Maria, who was looking at them with tired eyes.

"Hey darling. Did you have fun with Mr. Wizard?" he asked, stroking her hair away from her face and leaning down to kiss her forehead, too. Maria nodded. "Good. I'm just going to put Emily to bed, and then I'll be back okay," he got to his feet, sent Kurt a smile and made his way to his own room. Not knowing what else to do with himself, Kurt started finally clearing away the food.

"Hey, no, you don't have to do that, just leave it," Blaine said when he came back five minutes later. "Thank you so much for tonight. It really did save my job if not my life."

"It was my pleasure," Kurt ducked his head embarrassedly. Truth was, he had enjoyed himself so much, getting to spend so much time with the two girls who had stolen his heart.

"I'm glad. I'm just going to put Maria to bed as well, I'll be right back." Maria clung to him like a koala as Blaine gently lifted her from the couch. Kurt smiled to himself, as the two of them maneuvered around furniture and playthings. "Say night-night to Mr. Wizard."

"Night-night," Maria waved tiredly at him over her father's shoulder as she was carried down the hallway. With a wistful sigh Kurt returned to cleaning the kitchen despite what Blaine had said. – It was his fault the place was such a mess, after all, and Blaine would be the one who had to deal with too-tired kids the next day.

"What did I tell you," Blaine admonished stepping back into the room a few minutes later. Kurt turned to face Blaine and without the children he suddenly felt the tension rise.

"I'm really sorry for last week, I shouldn't have done that," Kurt said, melting against the counter as he tried forcing himself to not look at Blaine.

"It's okay, really," Blaine lent against the fridge opposite to where Kurt was standing, hands folded behind himself. "Actually I have had sort of a realisation, since then."

"Yeah?" Kurt picked at some fluff on his jeans.

"Yeah, and I was thinking, maybe, as a thank-you for tonight, I could take you out for dinner. Just the two of us, no kids, and we could talk about it."

"I…" Kurt wasn't sure what to say to that, when he didn't know what sort of realisation Blaine had arrived at. He really didn't want his heart even more broken than it was already. Blaine was walking the short distance across the kitchen and stopped right in front of Kurt.

"Please?" he said trying to catch Kurt's eye. He was standing really close, and his smell was swirling enticingly around Kurt.

"I really do want to be your friend, Blaine," Kurt said, briefly meeting his eyes. "You and the girls."

"Good. Cause we want that, too." He was just so close, it was making it hard for Kurt to think. "Actually, I was sort of hoping that after that dinner, you could be something… more," Kurt's eyes snapped up to Blaine's face, his heart suddenly in his throat.

"But you're not…" he stuttered out, uncertainly.

"Into boys? I didn't think I was, but I'm into you, so. Maybe I was wrong, or maybe it's just you, I don't know." Blaine's eyes were warm and his face sincere. He was standing so close, Kurt was certain he must be able to hear the way his heart was beating. "So please let me take you out so we can figure all of this out," Kurt was nodding before Blaine was finished speaking, biting his lip to stop himself from smiling to widely. "Oh, thank god," Blaine sighed, and suddenly they were kissing, softly, experimentally. Wonderfully. The flat was quiet around them, and still an utter mess, but Kurt couldn't care less as he wound his arms around Blaine, sighing into the kiss. Just for one night, he decided, just this one night, he was going to allow himself to dream.

* * *

 **AN:** Hi guys. Thanks for reading. The second part of this two-shot will be up within the week, so feel free to keep an eye out for that if you feel like it. You are also, as always, free to leave comments if that takes your fancy. See you soon :) - Oh and title from Wet Wet Wet's 'Love is all Around'. And nothing is mine and all that.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:** Hey guys. So this is part two, and it is somewhat different from part 1. This one is a little more emotion-heavy and angsty, but there is a happy ending, so... There is nothing graphic either, so it should be fairly safe to read. Thank you for the response to part 1, and feel free to comment after this one, if you so chose. Otherwise enjoy :)

* * *

Kurt

1.

"Hello?" Kurt pushed the phone between his shoulder and his ear.

"Is this Mr. Hummel?" Kurt hummed his confirmation, not too focused on the phone call as he picked up a bag of mixed dried fruit. His mind was on his home, with his boyfriend and the two girls that were steadily becoming his as well. He and Blaine had been dating for six months, and things were going smoothly despite a few hick-ups relating to Blaine's new-found interest in men. – Not everyone had been equally impressed. Things had settled though, and he and Blaine had steadily fallen in love. It had not taken many months for Kurt to start staying over virtually every night, though it had only been a couple of weeks since they had made their cohabitation official. Kurt couldn't wait to finish this shopping trip and go home and be with his family. This phone call was just another hindrance to that objective.

"Mr. Hummel, this is Tracy Owenson from the St. Margaret Hospital. I am calling because you are listed as Blaine Anderson's emergency contact?" Kurt froze in place, bag still in hand, his heart speeding up. "Mr. Anderson was brought in to our care recently, and we need you to make your way here as soon as possible. As his acting next of kin, we need you to sign paperwork that will allow us to carry out our medical responsibilities."

"Why is Blaine in your care?" Kurt breathed out. 'Please be a broken wrist, please be a broken wrist,' his heart beat fast in his chest.

"I am afraid Mr. Anderson has been involved in an accident, Mr. Hummel. I cannot give out any further information until you get here, I am sorry." Blinking tears from his eyes, and trying not to panic, Kurt reassured the nurse that he was on his way.

The cap ride from the store to the hospital was one of the most excruciating half hours of Kurt's life. The look on Mr. Schuster's face as he collected Kurt from French class a little over ten years prior kept running through his mind. 'It's you father, Kurt, he's in the hospital.' The voice of his former Glee coach mixed with the voice of the nurse from the phone. 'Mr. Anderson was involved in an accident.'

"I need to see Blaine. Mr. Blaine Anderson. Please, I need to know what happened to him." Kurt rushed out as he skirted to a halt by the reception desk on the emergency level of St. Margaret's.

"One moment please," the nurse manning the desk said as she turned towards her computer. "Mr. Hummel," she turned to him to confirm. "Sir, Mr. Anderson was involved in an accident a few hours ago. He is currently in surgery. We need you to sign documents that will allow us to carry out life-saving procedures, should they become necessary." The nurse was already pulling out forms and spreading them out in front of Kurt, who had started to shake.

"Will they be necessary?" he got out, his voice about as shaky as the rest of him.

"A doctor will be out presently to talk you through the procedures. For now, please sign the forms."

(*)

This could not be happening. Not again.

"His brain activity is low but stable. His vital organs are fully functioning. All we can do is give him time." Kurt stared straight into the air as the doctor spoke in a calm, practised voice. Rachel was crying next to him. So was Elliot on his other side. Kurt only felt numb. Numb and cold. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be.

(*)

He went to see him before he went home. Tina was looking after the girls, and her subdued text from ten minutes before said that they were both sleeping. The doctors had cleaned him up. He looked like he was just sleeping. His eyes were closed, his chest falling steadily under the blanket they had tugged around him. His arms were laid out on top of them, one wrist bandaged. He was fine, more or less. – A little banged up, but fine. No major damage done. No broken bones, no internal bleeding. Just a stupid fall. Just a hurried step and a tumble down the stairs outside his school. He was fine, though. Except from the fact that he wouldn't wake up. Couldn't, according to the doctors. Something about swelling of the brain and some type of coma. Maybe he would wake up tomorrow. Maybe he wouldn't wake up at all. Kurt only stayed a few moments, standing in the doorway, looking at the man it had been all too easy to fall in love with. Then he turned on his heels, letting the door snap shut behind him.

(*)

How do you tell a five-year old that she can't talk to her father because he is sleeping and no one can wake him up? Which words do you use to make that make sense in a five year-old brain?

How do you explain to a one-and-a-half-year-old that looking for the man she loves the most in the world is pointless? That waiting for him is not going to work?

Kurt sat still on the couch, starring into nothingness as Tina spoke in a forced calm voice to a sobbing, confused Maria. When she crawled onto the sofa he automatically opened his arms, letting her curl against his chest. When Emily tugged on his pants, he picked her of the floor and settled her against his chest.

There was nothing to say to them.

(*)

"Kurt?" Rachel pushed the door to the bedroom open, letting light fall onto the bed Kurt was curled up on. "Tina says you've been in here all afternoon." Kurt didn't move. It had been 24 hours since his phone had rung, and he felt like it might as well have been a year. His best friend came into the room and sat down on the edge of the bed, placing a hand on his ankle.

"You need to eat something, Kurt," she said. Kurt just shook his head against the pillows. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to think. He knew that if he did, then things would become real, and he would break, and he couldn't. He just couldn't do that.

"Kurt, I know this really sucks okay, but you have to stay strong. There are two girls out there who need you. Blaine needs you to take care of them."

"You didn't even want me to date him. In the beginning. You didn't like him, and you didn't want me to be their substitute dad."

"That was a long time ago," Rachel voice was calm as she continued to rub Kurt's ankle soothingly. He just wanted her to leave. "Please come and eat with us? Maria helped making dinner. She really wants to show you." A faint baby giggle drifted into the room and Kurt shuddered.

"I can't," he whispered, feeling his entire body tensing in an attempt at not falling apart.

"Kurt, please."

"I can't, Rachel! I just can't!" he shouted, forcefully retracting his foot from her grasp. He pretended not to see the pity in her eyes as she stayed for a few moments more. She mercifully closed the door behind her when she finally did leave.

(*)

"Mr. Wizard?" Maria stood in the doorway, nervously peaking in at him.

"Yeah, sweetheart?" Kurt got out, forcing himself to sit up and look at her. It had been a while since she had stopped calling him Mr. Wizard.

"Why won't you eat? Daddy says we always have to eat our dinner, or our tummies will hurt. Wont your tummy hurt?"

"You're right. I should eat." With a strength he hadn't known he had, he got to his feet, grabbing the little hand as he made his way into the kitchen.

"Rachel says you helped cook. That's very nice of you."

(*)

Emily was crying. Kurt could hear Tina's frantic pleas for her to settle mingled with the screams. He carefully closed Maria's door behind him. It was way past both kids bedtime, but both were resisting sleep. It had taken three books and a million songs for Maria to finally give in, clinging to Kurt as her breath steadied out.

"Da!" Emily screeched loudly. "Kur! Da!"

Kurt made a pit-stop in his and Blaine's room, picking out his favourite baby wrap. Blaine had patiently taught him how to tie Emily to his front one night soon after they had started dating. Having the small child just sitting there, looking up at you with the widest smile, so close and so warm, had rattled Kurt's heart. He wrapped the warm yellow fabric around his midsection and over his shoulders as he made it into the living room. Emily spotted him immediately, her large hazel eyes slurred with tears, her face deep red and swollen from hysteria. "Kur!" she threw herself in his direction, and he caught her safely. Tina send him a grateful look as the toddler settled against his chest, her head tucked against his breast bone.

"Thank you for today Tina," Kurt whispered as he rocked back and forth on the spot. "It means the world to me."

"Of course." Blaine's best friend looked exhausted. She and Blaine had met at college, and when the children's mother left she had been his strongest pillar to lean on. When Blaine had started dating Kurt she had been nothing but supportive, babysitting the girls at least once a week so that they could have some private time. She had gotten married a few weeks ago, and at the wedding Blaine had whispered 'One day I am going to marry you, Kurt Hummel.' Into Kurt's ear.

"Go home. Be with your husband. Take some time to deal," Kurt whispered as Emily started whimpering again. Tina send him a tired look, stroking Emily's back.

"Will you be okay?" she asked softly, tears shaping in her eyes.

"No," Kurt answered thickly, "But nothing's going to change that. Go home, please. We might need you for a long time." Tina nodded, leaning in to kiss his cheek before sneaking out the door.

Emily was falling asleep, finally. The apartment was entirely quiet as Kurt continued walking back and forth, humming softly even though his voice was threatening to break and his legs were shaking under him. Tears started leaking out of his eyes, streaming down his cheeks and into Emily's soft, black curls. He could feel her soft breath against his ribs and whisping over his breastbones. His arms started to shake, too. He continued to walk. Back and forth, back and forth, as the world stood almost still around him.

* * *

2.

"It's been a week." Kurt let his head rest in his palm as he looked at Blaine. They had moved him to another room the day after the accident. He still looked asleep, and that was basically what he was, according to his doctor. There were three other people in the room, also comatose. It was one of the most eerily quiet rooms Kurt had ever been in. "Don't you think it's time to wake up now? I mean I get that you were really busy, and probably needed the rest, but this is getting sort of ridiculous." Kurt watched as Blaine's chest rose and fell steadily. He didn't react.

The door opened and the wife of one of the other patients shuffled in. she was old, nearly 75 according to her. Her husband had been out for nearly a year now. Still she came by every day, to sit next to him for one hour – three on the weekend – and read the business section of the newspaper out loud to him. Sometime she would be knitting. Other days her arthritis would be too bad. She absolutely adored the girls. Kurt had only brought them a couple of times. Emily didn't understand why her dad just lay there. She would try to open his eyelids in the same way she had the first time Kurt stayed over. Maria understood better, now, and just sat in Kurt's lap, telling her dad about her day in school. The old lady sometime brought little packets of sweets for Kurt to take home with him.

"Whenever you're ready, honey," Kurt reached over to brush a stray curl of Blaine's forehead, "We'll be waiting for you."

(*)

"I want Daddy!" Maria screetched, stamping her little feet into the ground.

"Sweetie, you need to put your shoes on, we'll be late for school." Kurt tried in his most soothing voice.

"Daddy takes me to school! I want Daddy!" Maria didn't let herself be talked down.

"Da!" Emily chorused from her seat on Kurt's back.

"Daddy can't take you to school today, sweetie, you know that," Kurt reminded himself to just breathe deeply. He knew Maria had to react to what was happening, he just didn't know how to deal with it.

"Then I won't go!" the child insisted, cringing out of the coat it had taken ten minutes to get her into.

"Maria, please, for me. Please just put your clothes on so we can get out the door."

"No! I don't want to go without Daddy! You don't know how to do the voice of the red man while we wait to cross. I don't want you to take me." Kurt felt tears rise in his eyes. The last three mornings had been pure hell. The dresses he picked out for Maria were apparently all wrong. He didn't know how to do the right smiley faces on the pancakes. He did two ponytails when Maria wanted one. He didn't tie her shoes in the right way, like Daddy did. And it didn't stop there. He put the wrong flavour fruit bar in her lunch box. He cut the sandwiches in squares when they were supposed to be triangles. He did the wrong voices when they read bedtime stories. His pasta was mushy. There were peppers in the lasagne even though he knew she didn't like them. Everything was just wrong, and he was at his wits end.

"Okay," he snapped, standing straight and holding up his hands in surrender. "You win. We won't go to school today," Maria's eyes got huge as she looked up at him. "We're late anyway, so what's the point? What do you want to do instead? We could go visit Daddy at the hospital, and then go to the Treasure Shop. Maybe pick out something for your treasure chest? Does that sound better?" Maria looked like she was about to burst into tears. Kurt knelt down to pull her into a hug. "I know this is really hard, okay. I know you really miss Daddy, and that's okay. That will always be okay." He whispered into her hair. She nodded against his chest, sniffling back her tears.

"I don't like the hospital." She confided as he pulled back, looking in to the floor. "It's quiet. I don't like it when it's quiet." Kurt breathed air deep in to his longs to stop himself from crying again. He remembered the feeling from when he was a child himself. There wasn't much he remembered about his mother or her sudden and fatal illness. But he remembered the quietness from that very last visit.

"That's okay, honey. We don't have to go to the hospital, if you don't want. We'll just go to the Treasure Shop, okay?" She looked up at him with wide eyes and nodded.

(*)

Mercedes smiled at them as they entered the shop. She and Kurt had met when Kurt first opened the shop next to hers, and she had pulled him under her own wing. They had fallen into the habit of eating lunch together, taking turns closing their shops for that half hour. Mercedes was large as life in her bright clothes and open face.

"Go have a look around," Kurt smiled at Maria. Emily was asleep, so he left her pushchair by the entrance and made his way to his friend.

"Hey, boo. How're you holding up?" she pulled him to her chest as soon as he was within reach.

"Horribly." He answered honestly, turning to watch Maria wander around the shop. This was one of her favourite places. Thursdays Kurt usually kept his shop open longer, and Blaine and the girls would come by with takeout and sit in the backroom and chat while Kurt finished up whatever designs needed finishing. Often they would go visit Mercedes as well, letting Maria explore.

"Oh, Boo," Mercedes rubbed his shoulder. Kurt shrugged his shoulders and send her a 'what can you do?' look. Mercedes nodded her understanding. "There's coffee out back. Why don't you go put your feet up for a moment while the girls and I shop?"

* * *

3.

"I brought you flowers, today," Kurt announced, placing the bouquet of yellow roses on the otherwise useless nightstand next to Blaine's bed. Blaine had given him yellow flowers on their first days and then again on the night he asked Kurt to move in with them. "I don't know if you deserved them though. Two whole weeks? Really, Blaine?" Kurt sat in the chair permanently placed next to the bed. "The doctors say your brain activity is spiking. Apparently you're minimally responsive. That's why your hands twitch sometimes. They won't tell me if that means you can actually hear me or not."

Kurt was starting to feel a little like the old wife knitting by her husband's bedside. He had fallen into a routine of visiting his boyfriend for an hour every day after he had taken the girls to school. After Maria's admission, the girls no longer came with him. Instead Kurt would tell Blaine about them.

"Your parents have send another get well soon card." Kurt placed the plain card next to the flowers. Blaine's parents had not been happy to learn that their son had apparently turned gay overnight. After the fall they had come over from Ohio along with Kurt's father, but had only stayed a few days. They had made it quite clear that they were not all together happy that Kurt would be the children's caretaker, but when it became clear that they were themselves the alternative they had booked it back home.

"And my dad sends loads of hugs. He says he might come out again soon, to take the girls to the zoo. Before the weather gets too warm." Burt and Carrol Hummel could not have been more thrilled when their son announced his relationship. – They had had their reservation about the single dad part at first, but all it took was one meeting, and they had both been sold. Kurt wasn't sure he would have made it through the first week after the accident without his dad there.

"Anyway. The girls send their love. This morning Maria…"

(*)

"Mr. Hummel?" a young woman in a blue flowered dress came up to Kurt in the school hallway, holding out her hand for him to shake. "I'm Miss Marrild, Mr. Anderson's substitute." Kurt nodded politely, holding up Maria's jacket for her to cringe into. "What happened is just awful. Everyone in the teaching staff are shattered," she send Kurt a thin smile. "His children really miss him, too, they obviously loved him very much. They made this for him,"

She passed him a large handmade card. 'Get Well Soon, Mr. Anderson' was written on the front with large letters. Around it a litter of little child's drawings were scattered at random. Most of them were of little stick men with bowties surrounded by flowers and suns and tiny stick figures obviously meant to be the children themselves.

"Thank you," Kurt got out around a sudden lump in his throat. He had gotten to see Blaine in his right element a few times when he had the chance to pick his family up from school. His boyfriend was made to be surrounded by children. He lit up in a way Kurt had only seen a very few people do. The children clearly adored him as well. "I'll make sure he gets this." Miss Marrild smiled kindly.

"If there's ever anything any of us can do, don't hesitate to ask," she said, watching Maria who had shuffled behind Kurt's legs. "Anything at all."

* * *

4.

"Look, Kurt, a baby monkey? Oh that's cute!" Maria clapped her hands and pointing through the bars of the monkey cage.

"Oh yeah, there it is," Kurt smiled, resting his hand on her head, ducking down to look at the baby clinging to the mother as she ate grapes. It was a warm Saturday and the New York zoo was fairly crowded. Nonetheless, Burt Hummel had insisted on coming.

"Oh, look at her go," his dad laughed as Emily wobbled ahead of him on the unsteady surface.

"Dad, be careful," Kurt called after them. Even though Emily had been walking for a few months she was still not always stable on her feet. It used to amuse Kurt when she would stumble and lose her balance, sitting down hard on her diapered behind, a look of pure befuddlement on her face. Now all he saw were tripping wires and sharp edges.

"Oh, relax, Kurt. She's fine!" Burt called back a large grin on his face.

"Oh, Kurt! The baby almost felled!" Maria exclaimed, horrified, and Kurt turned to see the little baby monkey unsteadily crawl towards the edge of the platform they were on. The mom calmly reached out to pull it back to safty, and Kurt couldn't help smiling.

"It's okay, honey, its mommy and Daddy won't let anything happen to it," he said, "Now what do you say we take Grumpy Hummel and Emily to get some ice cream?"

(*)

"You're holding up well," Burt sat down next to his son, watching the two children play on the playground. Maria had found her big-sister side and was explaining the world to Emily as they build sand castles together in the sand pit. Emily looked adorable in her little summer dress and sunhat, her little fat legs splayed to both sides as she smashed anything her sister build up with her little hands. Maria looked affronted over at Kurt under the brim of her own bright yellow sunhat.

"It's okay, darling. Just build something new." He called over, before turning to his dad. "You really think so? Because I feel like we are balancing on a knife's edge and by the end of most days we have suffered several near falls." Burt huffed and slapped a hand on his sons back.

"Considering the circumstances, yeah, you're doing just fine." He said, "When your mom passed I was a mess. I know how hard this is, and these aren't even your own kids. You could have bailed but you didn't,"

"I would never do that, dad! I know they're not my kids, but it still feels like they are! I could never, ever abandon them" Kurt send his dad a hard look. Burt held up his hands in defence.

"I know that Kiddo. Watching you today makes it pretty clear. You have turned in to a real worrywart dad. And those girls love you, they really do. They are so fortunate to have you." Kurt slumped turning back to the girls in time to see Emily laughingly slam her fists into the construction Maria had carefully build up.

"Kurt!" Maria whined looking over at Kurt with betrayal in her eyes, "She keeps smashing it!" Kurt smiled, getting to her feet.

"It's okay, baby-girl, she's just being a little sister. I'll help you build it again, and we can make something else for Emily to smash, okay?"

(*)

"The girls are asleep. I'm here. Go. Be with your friends. Relax." Burt had nearly pushed his son out the door, which was how Kurt found himself in some club, the heavy beat thumping through his body.

"Hey, sexy!" Elliot slid into the seat next to Kurt's at the bar, waving for the bartender. "How's it going?" Elliot was one of those Ex's who had somehow turned into a friend after a year's worth of no contact. They had met in college, and, both being from the middle of no-where, had swiftly grabbed the opportunity and started a stormy romance. It hadn't turned out too pretty. Kurt had quickly realised he wanted stable romance. Elliot wanted excitement and fun. The break-up had been mutual and swift. When they met a year later, and actually sat down and had a conversation they realised how much better off they were as friends.

"Oh, you know. My boyfriend and love of my life is asleep running on week 4." Kurt said, taking a large sip of his cocktail.

"Still no changes?"

"Nope," Kurt popped the p and raised his eyebrows.

"Sucks,"

"Yeah,"

"Come dance with me," Elliot had already grabbed his hand and dragged him of the barstool. Santana, Danny and Britany cheered when they joined them, pulling Kurt into the middle of their circle. Running on drink number 4 it was almost too easy to let the music wash over him, rinsing the rest of the world away.

(*)

The tears were already there as he shouldered the door closed and sank down it to sit on the hall way floor. Familiar footsteps from his childhood rang through the quietness, and his dad stood in the doorway to the living room. Kurt sniffled and looked up at him, helplessly.

"I don't want to move on dad! I don't want to forget him!" he hick-upped. Burt only nodded, moving through the small space and pulling his son into his arms, holding him close.

* * *

5.

"Hey, baby," Kurt wiped the treacherous tears of his cheeks as he sank into the chair. He was so used to the hospital during the day that the quietness of the night startled him. The room Blaine was in was the same as ever though. – Except from the absence of the old man. He had slipped away sometime in the night a few days ago. Kurt had made sure to send some flowers and a card for the funeral.

"I know it's later than usual, but I just really wanted to see you." Kurt let the silence wash over him, straightening the blanket that covered Blaine. He looked the same as always, only paler and with longer hair. It had started losing its shine, though.

"Emily said a new word today. She said Abul. Em'y Abul." Kurt smiled through his tears as he tried to imitate Emily's thick little voice as she held up the apple boat Kurt had passed her before dinner. She was changing so much every day. Learning things constantly. And Blaine was missing it. Angrily, Kurt swiped at the stupid tears. It was so rare he allowed them to fall at all, because he knew they would help no-one. But tonight he felt weak and drained and helpless. Nothing had really happened. He just felt like he could use a hug, but the one he needed a hug from couldn't give it to him.

"Maria made you another card. I know you probably miss her, but I think it's just too hard for her to see you like this." Kurt carefully pulled out the little hand-crafted card and placed it next to all the other ones filling the bedside table.

"Your brother is coming to stay. I have no idea how that's going to go." Kurt sniffed. "I just." He closed his eyes, steeling himself for a second. "I'm just so scared he's going to think I'm not doing a good enough job with the girls, you know?"

(*)

"Uncle Cooper," Maria cheered as her uncle entered the kitchen. Coopers plane had landed late the night before, and she hadn't been awake when he came in. Emily twisted in her high chair, babeling and waving her oatmeal covered hands at him.

"Hi, Princess Maria," Cooper swung his niece around before settling her on his hip. "How is my dearest niece?" he walked over to ruffle Emily's hair.

"I'm okay," Maria said, letting herself be placed back on her chair.

"You're letting her eat with her hands like that?" Cooper asked, sitting on the chair next to Kurt, "it's pretty gross, shouldn't she be able to eat with a spoon by now?"

"She likes eating like this," Kurt tried to keep the hurt out of his voice. Cooper ignored him, spreading butter over his toast.

"So who's ready to go to the hospital today?" he asked brightly. Maria stiffened on her chair.

"I don't wanna go, Kurt!" she said hastily.

"You don't have to," Kurt send her a reassuring smile even as Cooper directed his eyes to him, disbelief dripping from them.

"You're not taking her to see her own dad?" he asked, his voice hard.

"Not if it makes her sad. I'm not going to force her." Kurt tried to keep his voice level. He knew how perceptive Maria could be to tones' of voices.

"Seriously, Kurt she has to go see her dad. What if…"

"She doesn't have to go if she doesn't want to!" Kurt cut over, making sure to put enough steel in his voice to warn Cooper from pressing the matter further. "We can go to the park while uncle Cooper goes to see his brother."

(*)

"Kurt," the tiny voice pulled Kurt from his sleep surprisingly quick. He blinked his eyes open to see Maria standing in the doorway to the bedroom, looking small in her slightly too long nightgown.

"Hey, there," he rasped, his voice rough with sleep.

"Can I sleep in the big bed with you?" she asked, her voice even tinier than usual.

"'Course," Kurt pulled aside the blankets for her to crawl under. She did so quickly, shuffling close to him. "Is everything okay, sweetie? Did you have a bad dream?"

"Does Daddy hate me?" Maria sniffled, looking at Kurt through the darkness with round eyes.

"What? No, he doesn't baby-girl. He will never hate you!" Kurt pressed a kiss against her forehead as tears spilled down her little cheeks.

"But Uncle Cooper says I have to go see him. Is Daddy sad that I don't like the hospital? I don't want to make Daddy sad!" Kurt closed his eyes briefly, feeling his heart clench hard in his chest.

"Your Daddy loves you more than anything in the world, Rie Rie. And he knows how much you love him. If you don't like the hospital, then you don't need to go. I promise you, your Daddy understands." He carefully wiped the tears from Maria's cheeks. Maria nodded, worming closer to place her head on Kurt's chest.

(*)

"Kurt," Cooper was standing by the dishwasher the next night when Kurt came back from having tucked in Maria. There was a serious look on his face, and Kurt steeled himself for whatever he was about to say. Blaine and his brother didn't have the closest relationship in the world, but Kurt still wanted Cooper to like him and the way he was with the girls. "I've been thinking about what you did yesterday. With Maria and not making her go to the hospital." Kurt bit his lip, waiting for Cooper to continue. He knew he had done the right thing, but that didn't mean he wasn't vulnerable to other people's opinion on the matter.

"You were right. She shouldn't be forced. That place is seriously depressing, and it's so hard to understand that Blaine isn't just sleeping when you look at him. I'm sorry I questioned you." He held out a steaming mug for Kurt to take. "My brother would be very proud of the way you're handling all of this. You're really great with his girls, and it would mean the world to him to see how well they are doing, everything considered." Kurt blinked back tears.

"And I know my parents are being a-holes about this whole thing, but Blaine is so lucky to have you. I get why he's as in love with you as he is. His daughters could not be in better hands." Kurt sniffled in to his cup.

"He's going to wake up." He said, raising his eyes to meet those of his boyfriend's brother. "Isn't he?" He knew how much Cooper loved Blaine. He needed someone to share this fear with, someone who understood, and Cooper would be that person.

"Of course he is," Cooper's voice was strong and certain. He made his way over to pull Kurt in to a one-armed hug. "How could he not when he have such a family to wake up to?"

* * *

6.

"It'll be good for you!" Rachel had insisted over the phone. Kurt, losing the will to fight no-matter how little he felt like going to some dinner party, had relented in the end. Maria had hugged him extra tight before he left, making him promise to kiss her goodnight even if she was already asleep. He had almost changed his mind about going, but Sam, another of Blaine's close friends, had more or less pushed him out the door.

"Dude, we'll be fine. Just go enjoy yourself," he'd said. Sam, Tina and Blaine had allegedly been quite the trinity in college. Sam had studied literature rather than education, and now worked as writer for some magazine or other.

"Kurt, come in!" Rachel beamed at him, pulling him in to the flat. Lively chatter drifted into the hallway from the living room. His high school bestie had kept their flat after he moved out, her salary from Broadway more than enough to cover the rent. "Almost everyone is here already," She was sort of bouncing next to him as he pulled of his coat and hung it up the way he used to. For a while, Kurt had been convinced to believe in a future in theatre as well, and he had even spend a semester at NYADA with Rachel. He had, however, been driven crazy by the competitive environment – he had had to fight all his life, and he hadn't had the drive to keep doing that. So he had dropped out, much to Rachel's disdain, and studied business and design instead. Rachel had never quite forgiven him, though.

The living room had changed in the month since he moved out. Floor-length, white curtains now hang down next to the large windows, held back by large pink bows. The couch was new, since Kurt had dragged the old one with him. Rachel had managed to find a bright yellow one that almost lit up all on its own. The arrangement of the furniture was different, as well. The dining table had been pushed to one side of the room, and was set with large silver candelabras, pink and white centrepieces and a crisp white tablecloth with silver thread woven in to the fabric.

There were a fair few people there, though no more than could fit around the table. The ladies were dressed in flashy cocktail dresses, the men matching them in colourful suits. Kurt looked down at his tight black jeans, deep-purple shirt and black west, wondering if he, of all people, was actually underdressed.

"Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Go mingle," Rachel who had followed him into the room, whispered in his ears, pushing him further into the room. Kurt knew no-one in the room, which seemed to be opposite everyone else. He found himself standing, awkwardly, in the middle of the room.

"You're quiet," a voice made him turn on the spot coming face-to-face with a tall light haired male. "Not that you'd be likely to get a word in with this bunch. – Theatre people can be quite a challenge."

"It's not my first time at the rodeo," Kurt attempted a smile, " – I used to live here with Rachel."

"Ah, you're Kurt. I'm Justin," the man introduced himself, offering his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Kurt bit his lip as he shook the other man's hand.

"Likewise. So may I ask why you moved out? This is quite a lovely place." Justin waved about the room with a half smirk/half genuine smile.

"It is, but I moved in with my boyfriend," Kurt supplied.

"Oh," Justin looked surprised at that, "well that's… serious. But he isn't with you here tonight?" there was something strange about the tone of Justin's voice, but Kurt chose to ignore it for now.

"No, he couldn't make it," he replied smoothly, trying not to think too hard about Blaine in his hospital bed.

"Right, well, nice to meet you. I am just going to say hello to my cast mates," Justin smiled a not altogether honest smile, and made his way towards a tall girl in a bright purple dress that fit her exactly right. She smiled almost sympathetically, bringing her arm around Justin's shoulder. Kurt was no expert at lip reading, but it was quite easy for him to decipher Justin's words as he frowned at his friend: "He has a boyfriend."

(*)

"Oh, Kurt, great. Can you put those glasses onto that tray, please?" Rachel asked as he entered the kitchen. Playing along he walked to the kitchen counter to do as she asked.

"So Justin's nice," he commented, keeping his voice casual. His friend turned to him with Christmas lights in her eyes.

"Isn't he? And he's George's understudy! Rumour has it he is going to be taking over the lead when George leaves in a few months!"

"Hm, and is that why you're trying to set me up with him?" Kurt made sure to push steel into his voice as he narrowed his eyes at her. Rachel turned suddenly fidgety, straightening out her floral dress.

"I'm not setting you up," she said. Kurt only raised an eyebrow at her. "I just thought it might be good for you to be made aware of your options, I mean, it's been six weeks. Isn't it time you start thinking about your future? A future Broadway lead, Kurt! Just think about it."

"I have a boyfriend, Rachel!" Kurt glared at her, his hands folding in to fists against his side. "he is in the hospital, in a coma!"

"I know that, but…"

"No, Rachel, save it! I am not some pawn in the Rachel Berry social game! I don't care if you want to say you were his friend before he became famous, I have a boyfriend! So just stop trying to rule my life, okay!" Rachel opened her mouth, but Kurt continued over what she was about to say. "And just for the record, Blaine is going to wake up! I have a future planned out, and it involves the man I love and his two girls, who I am guardian for, by the way! So just stop. Just stop what you're doing. Just drop it." He twirled around and stalked out of the kitchen before she could defend herself, not trusting himself enough to listen to what she may have to say. His body was shaking, and there was really only one place he wanted to be. So he continued stalking through the apartment, down the stairs and into the warm spring air.

(*)

"I'm mad at you!" he sank into the chair next to the bed, sweat running down his face. The hospital was dark and quiet, and Blaine was as still as ever. It was driving him crazy. "I am so mad at you Blaine Anderson! And I'm mad at Rachel and Sam and everyone who thinks I should just forget and move on because I can't and I won't and just wake up damn it!" Kurt stopped with a gasp, turning away from the bed and the sight of Blaine's closed eyes and slow breaths. "Fuck!" he exclaimed getting to his feet, pacing back and forth next to the bed, hands flexing at his sides.

"I shouted at Maria the other day. Actual honest to God shouted at her because she wanted you to do her hair. I shouted at a five year old because she wanted her father and I am sick and tired of not being able to give him to her." He took a shuttering breath, and then took another. "Everyone keeps telling me how great I'm doing, how fortunate the kids are to have me, how proud you'd be if you saw." He sank down into the chair again, his voice dropping to a low whisper. "And it drives me crazy because I know they're wrong. I know how close we are to falling apart.

"I see the way Emily will find a toy that reminds her of you and just stop and go quiet. I see the way Maria looks at me with these eyes that are just so filled with a pain she knows I can't take away so she won't even ask me to. I can see when she stops herself from throwing a tantrum because she sees that I won't be able to handle it.

"We're not doing well, Blaine. We're barely doing at all. And I don't know how much longer I can handle it. So I need you to wake up. We need you. Those girls need their dad, Blaine. So fucking wake up, damn you." The tears were choking him, and everything was aching. Kurt bit his teeth tight together to stop himself from breaking down. "I am so pissed at you, and I need you to see that, Blaine." He sat rigidly on the chair, his breath going steady in and out. In and out.

"Aaaargh!" he screamed suddenly, ferally, sweeping the things on the bedside cabinet of, sending flowers and greeting cards smashing into the wall. He breathed hard, hands on his knees, pulling the anger back inside. He couldn't lose it. Not here. Not like this. A nurse stepped into the room, clearly alarmed. When she spotted Kurt by the bed, she placed her hands on her hips, sending him a disapproving look.

"I'm sorry. I'll leave," Kurt pulled on his jacket as he spoke, "I'm leaving." He looked down at Blaine briefly before swooping out of the room.

He made it back to the flat somehow. Sam was on the couch playing some game or other. Kurt just marched past him into the guest room. He grabbed a pillow from the bed, looked at it with hard eyes, then pressed his head into it and screamed. He screamed so long and so hard, his lungs were burning. But he just kept screaming. Raising his head from the pillow only to gasp in new air to scream with. At some point the screaming turned into ugly of sobs. The kinds that pulls at your entire body, and are filled with snot and slime.

"It's okay dude. Just let it out," strong arms suddenly folded around him, holding him together even as he felt everything crack and splinter within him. "Just let it out."

* * *

7.

"You look beautiful princess," Kurt twisted the little glittery hairband around the tiny braid in his hands. The curls in Maria's fine hair made it difficult to braid, but she had insisted. All the other girls got to have braids in their hair for the recital. She wanted them, too. Maria smiled happily into the mirror, inspecting her look. She had chosen the navy blue dress with the wide skirt, puff-sleeves and red-flowered lining herself. The Magic Bead necklace she had made shortly after their first meeting in Mercedes' shop, hang proudly around her neck. They had made the trip to the shoe shop the day before to pick out the polka dot ballerinas with the half-inch of heel that made her feel like a princess. She suddenly looked so big, and Kurt had to draw in a deep breath. Blaine should have been here for this.

Maria turned away from the mirror to fold her arms around him.

"I love you, Kurt," she said into his abdomen. Kurt smiled, stroking her hair carefully.

"I love you, too, Sweetie. Now go show Uncle Nick and Uncle Jeff how gorgeous you look." Maria nodded eagerly, running out of the bedroom with a clack, clack of heels. Kurt checked the mirror himself, sweeping a strand of hair back into place. He had dressed up as well, to show Maria his support. Setting his shoulders with a huff, he followed Maria out of the room.

"Let's take a picture for Daddy," Kurt smiled as he entered the living room. Maria was spinning on the spot to the praise of her dad's good friends from high school. Kurt hadn't met the couple before they showed up to attend Maria's recital, but he had spoken briefly to them over skype. The two of them fit well together. They balanced each other out.

"Oh, let me take it, so you and Emily can be in it as well," Jeff volunteered, passing the dressed up toddler to Kurt. Maria hurried over to stand next to Kurt, smiling toothily at Jeff as she showed of her dress to the camera. Kurt couldn't help but smile as well when Nick hopped behind his boyfriend to pull faces at Emily. It was a good picture. Kurt was going to have it printed and hang it up somewhere.

"Okay, time to go!" he declared, clapping his hands, "Let's get the star to the show!"

(*)

The assembly hall was filled to the brim with people. All the students and a fair share of siblings – older or younger – were sitting in an excited half-circle around the improvised stage. Behind them, parents, grand-parents, uncles and aunts were sitting on hard plastic chairs, all stretching to see better or with their phones out to take pictures and videos of their own little shiny stars. Kurt, Nick and Jeff had found seats towards the back of the hall to make it easier to sneak out if Emily became too fuzzy. Kurt knew he was no better than anyone else, constantly trying to spot Maria in the crowd. He also knew he was preening every time some mother or other stopped by to remark on how cute Emily looked. Over the past weeks he had come to know quite a few of the parents by name, and most of them send him sympathetic smiles as they ushered their own offspring to their seats.

The recital was chaotic, loud and amazing. Every class in the school had created a little number to show to their parents, and they were all cute and fun in their own way. Nothing ran perfectly, and that just made it that more entertaining. Maria shone like a star for her one solo line in the play her class did, and managed to steel the entire scene as she mouthed along to every other line. Kurt felt an immense sense of pride swell up inside him as he watched her. For all that she still missed her dad, she was doing so well.

Towards the end of the night, the young teacher who had been running the thing as smoothly as she could stepped up to the mic again, smiling out over the crowd. "Ladies, gentlemen and children. We have just one class left to perform now. But before I invite them onto the stage I have a few words I would like to say on behalf of the staff here.

"Some of you may have noticed that it's the wrong teacher hosting tonight. For the past four years, my close colleague and dear friend, Mr. Anderson has been doing the school plays and recitals for you guys. But as some of you know, Mr. Anderson had an accident and is in the hospital, so he can't be here with us tonight. Instead I am trying to fill out his shoes, and I know he will tell me that I did an amazing job because that is the sort of man he is, just as I know he will think every single child in here is fantastic, because there has never been a child Mr. Anderson didn't see the star quality in. We all miss Mr. Anderson so much, and the faculty and the children and I have been thinking hard about what we could do to show him that.

"This last class is Mr. Anderson's Ladybugs, and they have put a wonderful little homage to their teacher. We all hope to have him back with us after the summer break. So please welcome the St. Joseph Ladybugs!"

Kurt felt a lump rise in his throat as the teacher stepped aside, discreetly wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. The number that Blaine's kids performed was sweet and heartfelt, and somehow managed to be filled with hope rather than sadness. Kurt hugged Emily close to him from his seat. Blaine had touched so many little lives, and Kurt wasn't even sure if he knew that.

At the end of the night all the children were gathered together on the stage, singing a sweet little song complete with little hand gestures that only half the children remembered to do. As the young teacher took to the mike again, though, Kurt saw a frown cross Maria's face. The teacher was still saying her thank yous' and goodbyes' as Maria looked steadily more confused at the children shuffling their feet and waving at their parents. With a determined look on her face Maria decided to take action, marching across the stage to the teacher.

"We're not done," the mic picked up faintly, "We haven't song the song yet. We always sing the song because it's Daddy's favourite." The teacher looked both confused and emotional as she looked down at Maria's little determined face.

"Right, she said into the microphone. "I have just been informed that we have forgotten to sing the St. Joseph and the animals' song. This is Mr. Anderson's favourite, so maybe if we sing it loud enough he'll be able to hear it at the hospital and make him very happy. How does that sound, Maria?" the teacher looked down at the little girl who only nodded in satisfaction marching back over to her spot. "Okay, I know everyone in the staff knows this one, and probably a lot of you parents as well, so everyone sing along as loud as you can." The teacher nodded to the woman at the piano, and everyone started singing, loudly and obnoxiously, and Kurt just knew that Blaine would have loved every moment of it.

(*)

"Hey, there's the little star!" Kurt smiled so wide it almost hurt, pulling Maria in for a hug, "You did so good out there!"

"I wanna go see Daddy." She said looking up at him with wide eyes. "Can we go see Daddy?"

"Of course we can, Sweetie," Kurt said uncertainly, looking at Nick and Jeff standing off to one side. "Let's go see Daddy," He took Maria's hand in his and walked with her out of the school hall, waving goodbye to parents he hardly knew as he went.

(*)

"Hi, Daddy," Maria climbed onto the high chair next to the bed. "It was the recital today. They almost forgot to sing the animal song but I told them we had to sing it. We sang it very loud, did you hear?" Kurt stayed at the foot of the bed, watching her, not knowing if he should leave her to talk to her father alone. "Kurt did bradies in my hair. I told you he could. And I said my line all fine and remembered all the words." She bit her lip, looking at the sleeping face of her father. "I really hope you wake up soon, Daddy. I feel sad sometimes when you just sleep and sleep. And Kurt feel sad, too. I wrote you loads of cards. Have you seen them? She looked to where the cards had been re-arranged on the bedside table. "Oh, his hand moved Kurt!" she suddenly exclaimed looking at him with wide eyes.

"I know, Sweetie. It does that sometimes. It means that he's dreaming."

"Oh. Do you think he's dreaming about me and Emily?" Kurt tried for a smile, nodding his head and sitting on the edge of the bed.

"Yeah. I'm sure he dreams of the both of you all the time." The hand resting on the covers twitched again, and Kurt couldn't resist reaching over and folding his own hand over it. "Do you want to tell Daddy where Uncle Nick and Uncle Jeff are taking you tomorrow?" Maria's face lit up and she started a long spiel about the natural history museum and all the things her uncles had promised her she would be seeing. Kurt smiled as he listened, gently stroking his thumb over the back of Blaine's hand.

"Okay, it's time to leave now, Sweetie," Kurt interrupted quite some time later. Maria had been talking about all sorts of things; stuff she'd been doing, things she had found hard. By now she had talked herself tired, though, as she looked over at Kurt with large eyes and nodded.

"I really miss you Daddy," she whispered, shuffling down from the chair, "I hope you come home soon."

(*)

"Kurt?" Maria asked as Kurt was brushing her hair later that night.

"Yeah, Sweetheart?" by some miracle Nick and Jeff had gotten Emily to sleep, and the apartment was quiet around them.

"Daddy's my Daddy, right?"

"Yes," Kurt confirmed, furrowing his forehead as he tried to predict where this conversation might be going.

"But you are doing all the Daddy things now. Does that mean you are like a Daddy, too?"

"Oh," Kurt focused on not pulling too hard on the filtered locks between his fingers. "I, ehm. Do you think I'm a Daddy to you and Emily? Because that's okay. It doesn't mean your Daddy will ever stop being your Daddy, it just means that maybe you get to have two daddies taking care of you." He tried to ignore the way his heart was beating in his chest. Maria nodded as if that made sense.

"But do I call both you and Daddy Daddy? Then how will you know who I'm talking to?" she frowned in contemplation, cocking her head to one side.

"You can call me whatever you want sweetheart. But sometimes when children have two daddies, one of them they call Daddy and the other they call Dada or papa." Kurt tried to remain indifferent as he guided the brush through the curls. He could almost see the words whirling around her head.

"I like Papa." She decided, "Papa Kurt." She turned around to wrap her arms around him.

"Okay," Kurt breathed out. "Now do you want to sleep in your bed or in the big bed?"

That night for the first time in a long time, Kurt felt a tiny bit like things might actually turn out okay.

* * *

8.

The shop was so quiet. There hadn't even been a potential customer in the past hour, and Kurt had spent his time by scrolling through the videos and pictures from the recital the night before. Nick and Jeff had offered to take both girls with them to the Natural museum and Kurt had taken the opportunity to take the Saturday shift at the shop instead of Sara. – His assistant deserved quite the bonus for all the extra work she had been taking on over the past two months.

The phone rang in his hands, and he recognised the number from the hospital. With shaking hands he accepted the call. There could only be two reasons why they would call him, and one of them would break the fragile peace of the little family.

"Hello, this is Kurt Hummel." He flexed the fingers on one hand to stop them from shaking to badly.

"Hello, Mr. Hummel this is Dr Carson. I am Mr. Anderson's weekend attendant." A friendly, upbeat voice sounded.

"Just tell me what happened," Kurt said over the doctor probably wanting to do just that.

"Ah, a straight to the point sort of man," Kurt grit his teeth, "Well, Mr. Hummel I have the pleasure of informing you that Mr. Anderson regained conscience at 9.45 this morning." Kurt collapsed to the floor, helpless to stop it from happening.

"Could you repeat that?" his voice came out thin and shaky.

"Your boyfriend regained conscience, Kurt," the doctors' voice was soft, warm and contained just a hint of a laugh, "He's awake." Kurt shivered, pulling his knees to his chest, flailing a hand in front of his mouth. "Now I am sure you have been informed of the possibility of brain damage. We have been running tests on Mr. Anderson for the past few hours, and so far all the results are clear. And I am sure you are as anxious to see him as he is to see you, so make your way here as soon as you can Mr. Hummel. All of this will become much more real when you see his eyes looking back at you." Kurt sucked in a large, loud breath, and the doctor laughed faintly. "He'll be waiting for you when you get here,"

"Right, I need to go. I'll leave here right now. Tell him. I'll be right there." Kurt's entire body vibrated as he got to his feet, practically sprinting for the subway.

* * *

Blaine was sitting up in the hospital bed. The nurse had kindly moved the cards from his bedside table to his lap, and he was flipping through them with heavy arms. His entire body was so heavy and weak. The doctors said it was because it had been out of use for almost eight weeks, but he still refused to believe that. He would never do that to his family.

Of course there were all those weird dreams that didn't all feel like dreams but more like listening to people talk from under a duvet. – Kurt shouting at him, Maria talking about her day, Tina crying and telling him she was having a baby. He remembered all of those things along with his burning desire to just hold them or see them or something. But it couldn't have been eight weeks. It just couldn't.

He was flipping open yet another of Maria's cards, already smiling at the clumsy letters and childish drawings, when a sound made him look up. Kurt was standing in the doorway, one hand covering his mouth, the other clutching the doorframe tightly. He looked pale and shaky. Blaine did not like that look on his boyfriend's face. He held out a hand for Kurt, hoping he understood that Blaine wanted him to come nearer. Kurt sniffled, but did move across the room.

"Hey, babe," Blaine sighed as Kurt sat down on the edge of the bed. Kurt let out shuttering breath looking him slowly in the eyes. He reached up to take Blaine's faces into his hand, moving almost in slow motion.

"You're awake," he breathed out, tears welling up in his ocean eyes. Blaine nodded, trying for a smile even as tears started rolling down Kurt's cheeks.

"Oh, my God," Kurt hick-upped, and suddenly Blaine found himself with an armful of sobbing boyfriend.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm okay," he attempted to lift his arms up to fold around Kurt, but before he could, the other man had straightened up and punched him in the shoulder.

"8 weeks, Blaine," he huffed out as Blaine rubbed the sore spot. Blaine's eyes got wide as he took in Kurt's accusation.

"It's really been that long?" he got out, feeling tears flood to his eyes for the first time since waking up. Kurt nodded, taking Blaine's face back into his hands, staring into his eyes.

"Didn't the doctors tell you?" he asked.

"Yeah, but I didn't believe them. It's really been eight weeks?" He looked down at the cards in his lap. There were so many of them. Suddenly it all made sense. "The girls?" he looked up at Kurt in a panic. If he had been out of it that long then what had happened to them? Were they in Ohio with his parents? Did they think their Daddy had left just like their mother had?

"They're fine," Kurt's hand folded around his, and a calming smile took over his face. "Nick and Jeff have taken them to the Natural history museum. I'll call them in a minute, I just needed to make sure you were really awake before I got their hopes up." He softly brushed the tears of Blaine's cheek. "They'll be so happy to see you." Blaine just shook his head, trying to find words for the emotions that were coursing through him. "There are so many people who are going to be so happy." The tears were back in Kurt's eyes, but he bit them back. "I love you so much, Blaine," he whispered.

"I love you, too," Blaine grabbed on to Kurt's hands tightly, staring into Kurt's eyes through the haze of water. Still holding his gaze, Kurt pulled his hand up to press a warm kiss against the back of it.

"I'm so happy you're back with us," Even though it came out as a sniffle, there was a beautiful smile on his face. Blaine could only nod against his hand. "I'm going to get your girls here, okay?" he wiped tears away before leaning in to press a lingering kiss against Blaine's forehead.

(*)

There's was a soft knock on the door, and a smile spread across Blaine's face before it had even opened. He and Kurt had spent the past half hour talking softly and staring at each other. There was so much to catch up on, but mostly they had spoken about their plans for the summer holiday and Blaine's recovery process.

"Daddy!" Maria flew through the room with a war cry, landing in Blaine's arms with a small leap aided by Kurt's arms.

"Hey, baby-girl," Blaine muttered, folding his arms around her and burying his face in her hair. She clung to him tightly, hiding her face in his chest, as he rubbed her little back.

"Dada, dada," Emily's little voice pulled his attention back to the room. Nick and Jeff, his old schoolmates, had followed Maria back into the room, now standing at the foot of the bed with broad grins. Emily were in Kurt's lap, pointing at him and looking up at Kurt with big eyes.

"Yes, Em, that's Daddy. He's awake." Kurt said softly, sharing a look with Blaine. "Do you want to go over to Daddy?" he pressed a kiss into her hair in an entirely familiar motion that Blaine had almost forgotten about. Emily nodded as best she could, reaching for her father. Kurt gently placed her in Blaine's arm and she tucked her head against his neck.

"Hey, baby-girl 2. You've gotten so big, huh." Blaine whispered, leaning his head against her. "Mm, my two babies, Daddy loves you so much!" Blaine squeezed his children tight, making both of the squirm.

"Daddy," Maria sat back up, looking at him with big, wet eyes. "Why did you sleep so long?"

"Oh," Blaine sighed as Emily started playing with his hair. "I didn't mean to, honey. The doctors just couldn't wake me up. I'm really sorry darling," Maria nodded her understanding. Snuggling into him again,

"That's what papa Kurt said," She muttered, "I'm really happy you're not sleeping anymore." Blaine raised an eyebrow at a blushing Kurt, then smiled in reassurance.

"I'm really happy, too, baby-girl," he whispered, reaching out for Kurt's hand. "I'm really, really happy."

* * *

The apartment was flooded with life and light. Kurt couldn't help smile to himself as he stood by the kitchen counter, filling glasses. His Blaine had been back in his home for a full week, and he was holding up really well. – Which was why they had decided a party was in order. Kurt rolled his shoulders as he placed the now empty bottle on the counter and looked out over the room filled with people he loved.

"Come up to Grumpy," Burt Hummel reached down to pull a demanding Emily into his arms. His father had been the second person Kurt had called when Blaine woke up. The old man had laughed, calling loudly for Carol to start packing their bags. They had been on the first flight out, and had been an invaluable help over the weeks of rehabilitation Blaine had had to endure. "Mind your back, dear," Carol placed a warning hand on Burt's arm as he hoisted the squealing toddler high into the air. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, who had flown in for this occasion, shared a tight smile. Kurt knew they had been more than relieved to learn that their son had woken up. They, too, had been quick to make their way to the city, even staying for a few days to spend time, not only with their grandchildren, but with Kurt as well.

"The dinosaur loves little girls!" Sam did one of his weird voices as he hoisted a laughing Maria of the floor, blowing a raspberry into her stomach. Maria had been a little ray of sunshine ever since her father came home. She had spent most of the party running among all the guest, showing of her recital shoes and twirling in her light-blue summer dress. Blaine had decided to tell everyone beside his parents and brother of his return to the land of the living by posting a picture of him with his girls and him in the hospital bed, smiling as if Santa had just brought presents. Sam had been one of the first to post a comment, simply saying 'dude, you better be ready to watch the new Marvel movie with me!'. Nick and Jeff shook their heads at Sam's antics, their hands surreptitiously twining. They had extended their stay as well, but where off to LA the next day. Kurt had a feeling he would really be missing their company.

"So pointing is essential." Rachel pointed at Cooper as she said this. After their not-even-a-real- fight things had not been quite the same between the two friends. When Rachel saw the picture Blaine posted on Facebook, she had called Kurt in tears, apologising profusely. He had accepted, but still, things were tense between them. Cooper had called Kurt not three seconds after the picture went live, demanding answers to why he hadn't been called immediately. He and Blaine had then had a long and emotional conversation while Kurt and the girls went to find something to eat.

Elliot looked up from where he was in a deep conversation with a gathering of warblers who had insisted on coming to check up on Blaine. – They had called it a reunion, and had even put together a little musical number for Blaine to laugh at. Elliot had been impressed, and Kurt was almost certain he was now sharing notes with them. The two of the shared a look and a wink, making Kurt shake his head, grabbing a second bottle.

Dani, Santana and Brittany were sat on the couch talking with some of Blaine's co-workers. The school had closed for the summer by the time Blaine was able to leave his bed, but he had had a Skype call with his work kids, who had been almost uncontrollable, all trying to tell him everything they had been doing since they saw him last at the same time. Blaine had only smiled and listened as best he could, promising them he would be back after the break.

Blaine and Tina were standing by the doorway leading to the hallway. Blaine had one hand splayed over Tina's belly, and the both of them were glowing as they talked in hushed tones. Tina had arrived at the hospital like a storm, her eyes wide and filled with tears as she threw herself at Blaine. The following half hour had been filled with accusations, exclamations of joy and tear filled hugs. The emotional whiplash had silenced both Kurt and Tina's husband, who had mostly just looked from them to each other and back.

"So, how is it to have him back in the house," Wes had sidled up next to Kurt, grabbing the berries and started plopping them into glasses. Tina's husband and Kurt had clicked from the first time they had met. – It had taken Kurt embarrassingly long to learn that Blaine and Wes had a longer history than Tina and Blaine did.

"Oh, you know, crazy. Infuriating. Wonderful," Kurt send Wes a grin as he finished filling the glasses. Wes laughed heartily.

"I can imagine. He looks good though," he waved to where Blaine and Tina were still standing. Kurt nodded, also dividing berries into the glasses.

"I think he is." He said. "– Your little baby-secret won't be so secret if they keep that up, though" Wes heaved a theatrical sigh, shaking his head.

"I know," he said dramatically, winking at Kurt. As if sensing someone were looking, the two at the door looked over at them, both smiling widely. Blaine blew a kiss at Kurt which was dramatically caught and pressed against his heart. Blaine laughed, accepting a blow-kiss of his own. As they held eye contact, though, his smile melted into something softer and much deeper. 'Love you' he mouther across the apartment, as a squealing Maria bowled into his legs.

"Papa," Emily was pulling at his pants leg and Kurt smiled down at the little girl with her toothy grin.

"Hey there, Little One," he smiled as he bent to pick her up. He kissed her forehead as he looked across a room filled with friends and family to lock eyes with the love of his life. – Well one of three, anyway. "Do you want Papa to find you a snack?"


End file.
